It was with deep sadness I read of the death of an aged Indian cardiologist while flying on Qatar Airways. A man who had spent his life saving hearts, lost his own somewhere in the sky. The reason? A meal mix-up.

He had pre-ordered a vegetarian meal — something most airlines take seriously. But when the trolley rolled by, the airhostess smiled and said, “Sorry sir, no veg meals left.” Then, with the cheerfulness of someone who didn’t quite understand what she was saying, she handed him a non-vegetarian tray and added, “Don’t eat the meat.”

Don’t eat the meat? What nonsense! That’s like offering a diabetic a chocolate cake and saying, “Don’t eat the sugar!”

But I’ve seen this before — in Germany, in Spain, in many parts of the world. People there don’t understand that vegetarianism for many Indians isn’t a culinary fad but a sacred conviction. It’s not about health, it’s about faith. It’s not a preference, it’s a principle. And when someone ridicules or ignores that, they violate something much deeper than the palate — they wound the spirit.

The poor doctor must have felt torn — between hunger and belief, between fatigue and faith. Maybe he tried to scrape away the meat. Maybe he stayed hungry for awhile. Either way, that tragic moment of cultural ignorance ended a life that had saved so many.

He didn’t die because of just choking over a piece of meat he could have swallowed inadvertently. He died of insensitivity.

Last year, I was invited by the Punjab Kesri newspaper editor to speak at a Ram Navmi Utsav in Jalandhar. It was a warm gathering — lamps flickering, voices singing, hearts united in devotion. And I said something there, that I’ll never forget: “According to my scriptures, I can worship only one God. That is what my faith teaches me. But if your faith allows you to worship many, I respect that. So please, don’t force me or those who follow my religion to do otherwise.”

The crowd nodded, not in offence but in understanding — because true faith never fears another’s belief. It listens. It learns. It respects.

Sadly, in today’s world, we are losing that understanding — both in the air and on the ground. We are fast becoming like that airhostess, smiling but unaware that our ‘insistence on sameness’ can suffocate another’s soul. We tell others to “adjust,” to “fit in,” to “pick around the meat,” never realizing that in doing so, we’re forcing our flavour on the world — and killing its diversity.

A life has been lost because one person didn’t understand another’s faith. But perhaps the skies themselves are sending us a message — to learn before we serve, to respect before we react.

And if from this tragedy we begin to see each other’s beliefs with empathy and understanding — if we learn, finally, to honour the sacred in another’s choice — then maybe, just maybe…
the good doctor did not die in vain…!

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